The Nationalist Party will reverse increases in social housing rents introduced by the present government, the shadow minister for the sector, MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici said today.

She described the increases as having been ‘a tax on poverty’ as they hit mostly those with a low income who could not afford their own housing.

In some cases, she said, rents had gone up four times.

Some 15,000 families live in government housing.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici told a press conference that as promised by party leader Simon Busuttil, a future PN government would raise the government subsidies given to londlords who rent their properties to people with a low income.

“The PN does not believe in rent control on private properties, but it believes in social justice,” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

Some rents, she said, had risen to €500 a month, meaning that people with a minimum wage only had €200 a month to get by after paying rent. The PN, therefore, would substantially increase subsidies on rents of private property.